Seven Days of Music
by Lysythe
Summary: Slam Dunk Week. Band AU. Multiple pairings. Concrit appreciated.
1. you throw a punch just to land one

"_And that was FUJIMI with Sing Down the Moon from their latest album, Zen Chaos, at number 1 on the Nation's Top 20! Next week, we'll see which band has the power to knock the lone singer off their pedestal! Will it be Nansei Kaze with Breaking Midnight at number 2? Or newcomer North Star jumping higher than number 7 to number 3 with Revolution? Or can Jin Soichiro climb back up from his slip to number 4 with Won't Give You My Heart? Maybe number 5 duo Hanagata Toru and Fujima Kenji can make a surprise leap with their blockbuster single Rockin' Tokyo! See you next week with the results, folks. This is Aida Hikoichi on WKRZ 96.3 fm, signing out!"_

Katsuki clicked the radio off, accelerating with a sigh. Nansei Kaze, currently the number one Japanese rock band, versus Fujimi, the mysterious masked singer who had sold millions of albums worldwide. By the time Fujimi would begin to slide down the charts, Nansei Kaze might be down to number 7, no contest.

She flicked a glance at the rearview mirror, in which was reflected the drummer of Nansei Kaze, Fukuda, fast asleep. He was the one she worried about most- he was the most quiet, the most unsettling, and the one who alienated fans the most. She'd gotten the other bandmates to talk it off during interviews as Fukuda being shy, but there was no telling what might happen. She had already had to head off rumours of Fukuda's drug addiction by two different tabloids (granted, that was years ago and she kept an eye on him, but people liked to rake up before-the-band stories for any hint of scandal).

Nansei Kaze- Southwest Wind- comprising Fukuda Kicchou on drums, Koshino Hiroaki on bass, Uekusa Tomoyuki on keyboard and Sendoh Akira, frontman, leader, songwriter, on guitar and vocals. Having released their first album, Burning Brightest, a year and a half ago to great acclaim, and toured East Asia for half a year, they quickly released their second album, Ghost of a Dream. Most unfortunately, it coincided with the release of Fujimi's third album, breaking their three year hiatus, and a struggle for the love of the public began.

Their dream to be the best, to be more than one-hit wonders, seemed destined to end before it could begin.

-

Jin Soichiro woke with a start, disoriented, and fumbled for his handphone, following the sound of the ringtone rather than the lit screen. He mumbled a drowsy "yes?" as he rubbed his eyes.

"I _thought_ you hadn't woken," came the voice of his manager. "I'm picking you up in half an hour."

Jin muttered something between a yes and a swear as he drew his hand through his hair and set the phone down. The memories of his dream ending only a few minutes before still remained in his mind. There was someone special… someone he'd known for a long time when he was young.

But then, there were rather a few of those, and in the dream, the person… either they'd no face, or he couldn't remember that aspect of the dream.

Later, when he was being driven out to the autograph session, he was looking idly out the window, watching the pedestrians. _There_ was a mother with three- no, four- children of varying ages tugging at her skirts as she pushed a pram, and _there_ was a gaggle of high school girls with their bags festooned with cute charms and stickers, and _there_-

Ah.

On the giant screen covering half a wall, Nansei Kaze's latest music video played on.

He leaned back into the cushioned seat. He remembered now.

-

He woke up, not suddenly, but slow, and it was cold. He was alone in the bed, still.

Fujima wasn't back yet, then.

The lamp lit with a faint click, and, rubbing his eyes, reaching for his glasses, he looked across at the clock on the wall. The hands read 1.30.

Maki. It had to be. _Blasted _Maki and his _blasted _tanned skin and his… ugh, it just didn't bear thinking of.

Back to bed, then, after a drink. In the morning, as always, he would wake to the gentle, even sound of Fujima breathing.

-

"Arrogant, uptight, stone-faced- _bonehead_!"

"Stubborn, brash, rude monkey!"

"Stup- _hey_! Gori, put me down!"

"You two will shut up, sit down and get back to work on the lyrics _now_. We still have five songs to be done in half a month and the album will be released in a month's time. And Ayako-san will come to pick us up for the guerrilla live at five. **Get to it**."

Sakuragi huffed as he sat down heavily and glared at the paper. Across the table, his co-vocalist and -songwriter glared equally hard at his own paper. It was a wonder, Akagi thought, that the two managed to get along well enough to sing and play guitar together in the studio, let alone on stage.

Then again, the reason North Star was becoming popular so quickly was _because_ they were so awful about each other. The emotion in their songs, the energy and the tension on stage- they weren't a tame band, no, and it was all because of these two idiots, Rukawa and Sakuragi.

On stage, because their hands were occupied with the taut strings, they had no opportunity to let their animosity show, except by the words they sang, the notes they played.

Off stage was a different story.

Sakuragi was almost always the one to make the first blow, and Mito had opined once that Rukawa, who was well able to block later punches, probably only let himself get hit first so Sakuragi was within punching distance himself. If Akagi wasn't done changing, or if he was too far away, it would be Mito or Miyagi interceding.

Probably the only reason North Star still had its co-vocalists and –guitarists, still was a band, was because of the twain's extreme on-again, off-again relationship. As Miyagi put it: "The only reason the two of them fight is to have explosive breakup and makeup sex."

-

"Yes! Yes! YES!"

Mitsui groaned, muttered something about 'inconsiderate shitheads who can't tell AM from PM' and dragged himself to the door. Behind him, Hasegawa rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head.

"Takayama Satsuko," he said, enunciating clearly, carefully and slowly, "you have quite clearly not brought home anyone, nor are you having any fun with one of your toys, which you are not supposed to use in the living room in any case. Be a very good housemate- shut up and go to bed."

"But- but- but you'll _never_ guess what's happened, Hisashi-kun! It's absolutely fantastic!"

Mitsui carefully opened one eye and immediately squinted against the harsh fluorescent light. He could dimly make out the short, somewhat plump Satsuko dancing around with something white in her hand.

Ah.

"Sharp Height got signed," he said, resignedly.

"_Yes_! It's the most _wonderful _thing that's happened ever- oh!" Mitsui groaned as the sounds of crashing came. At least their coffee table was sturdy.

"Bed. And I still think Sharp Height is a stupid name for a band- it makes no sense."

Satsuko chuckled as she picked herself up. "Goodnight, oh thou grumpy guts. Just you wait and see, Kiminobu-kun and Nobunaga-kun and Chuichiro-kun and Yuji-kun and Nozomi-kun, they'll steal the spotlight from North Star and Nansei Kaze and Fujimi soon enough!"

Mitsui ignored her prattling as he returned to his bed. He could make sense of her words after five more hours of sleep.

---

Author's notes: written for Slam Dunk Week, and combining July prompts from the LJ community 31_days.

As has probably been gathered, Nansei Kaze is Ryonan and North Star is Shohoku.

Fujimi is obviously not Fujima. Nor is Fujimi a canon character. For that matter, neither are Katsuki or Satsuko.

Sharp Height's name is taken in a roundabout way from Takezato. Since we have no information about the members of Takezato, I chose the more secondary characters.


	2. this is the last time to get it right

"No, no, I'm recording all my unfinished stuff now."

"Don't force yourself. If you overwork…"

"I know, I know. No travelling for me, no performances. Not now. Gotta protect your investment, hunh?"

A snort. "Just come back to America, for god's sake. At least I can keep an eye on you here."

"Nothin' doing. I haven't been in Japan since forever, and I'll quit if I have to leave now."

A long pause. "Do you want to _die_ there?"

Very softly, "Yes." Louder, "But I'll keep going with my music, as long as I have to, as long as I can. If I leave anything unfinished, don't let anyone else complete it. Let that be my swan song."

"Pessimist."

The nurse looked into the waiting room. "Fujikawa-san, the doctor will see you now."

"Gotta go, Marcus. Don't worry, I'll be fine," with the smallest hint of false bravado, and the cell was switched off.

-

"That's disgusting," Koshino said indignantly from the doorway. "Either stop that or get your own pencils."

Sendoh looked up from the desk (Fukuda's), where he had been idly chewing the pencil (Koshino's) while going over the melody in front of him (Uekusa's and Koshino's, written jointly). "But it calms me down," he said, in a manner half-confused and half-innocent.

"Still disgusting. Katsuki-san, tell him it's disgusting," he ordered, as Katsuki arrived at the doorway with the promised dinner. Uekusa and Fukuda were already scoffing theirs.

"What are we talki- oh, urgh, _ew_, that _is_ disgusting." Katsuki wrinkled her nose, stepping into the room. "If you keep on with that I'll make you use a pen."

"I might make a mistake," he protested.

Katsuki pulled meaningfully at a folder on a desk, which contained two copies each of all the music written by the band members. Some already had lyrics, and some didn't.

"But, well… it's like I'm setting them in stone, if I use a pen. If I use a pencil it's easier. I can erase any mistakes."

"White-out, Sendoh-san. Or cancel out the offending characters, if they bother you so."

Sendoh rolled his eyes. "I _meant_ that once it's done in ink it feels like that's what the song is going to be. That the whole creative process is dead."

"Sing it differently and we'll change the lyrics later on," Koshino said, in between mouthfuls.

"I- oh, never mind. You don't get it, either of you."

"Put down the pencil and eat your dinner."

-

"…Let the stars burn themselves/And time will kiss the world goodbye," Ookusu sang carefully, accompanying himself on the electronic keyboard, with the violin sound chosen.

"Too classy," Kiyota snorted. "We're a _rock_ band, blondie, not an orchestra!"

"Do it again," Takamiya ordered, his drumsticks at the ready. "Match my tempo." He waited for Ookusu to begin before sinking into a hard and fast beat. Before long, Kogure was joining in on bass, and Noma was adding his own contribution on guitar.

Satsuko watched in amusement as Kiyota stewed while the rest were playing. Ookusu wasn't even trying to lip-synch, merely concentrating on keeping up the fast tempo. Kiyota was looking away from them, not catching the glances each of them shot him, waiting for him.

She started to count backwards in her head. Five… four… three… two… one-

"Argh! Give me the damn mike already!" And Kiyota jumped in to the mix at just the right moment, turning the ethereal lyrics Ookusu had written into something stronger, primal, brutal, yet still the same words. An anthem against dying, against the end. A song to live forever.

Sharp Height could go anywhere. She knew it.

-

"I'm not going along with this," Fujima announced, looking down into the clear green water. Below him, treading water, Hanagata snorted.

"We're here to shoot a music video, Kenji, not hear you whine about your inability to swim." Hanagata splashed invitingly. "You don't even have to open your mouth, just touch the keys-"

"I need to hold my nose!"

"We'll have to raise the piano platform, that's all," came Maki's voice from behind Fujima. "Just enough to keep the keys underwater- we'll only need shots of your hands, and the rest of you can be above water."

"So it's just my torso underwater too, with my guitar?" Hanagata asked, irritated. "We hashed this all out just now! I'm not going to-" He was cut off by a splash and a gurgling yelp as Fujima was pushed into the water from behind. He stifled a laugh. As much as he disliked (he felt 'hate' too strong a word to use) Maki, one had to agree that Fujima really had a way of meddling too much in a good thing, and the best way to stop him was to throw him in headfirst- literally, in this case.

By industrious, if somewhat panicky, paddling, Fujima made it to the pool's edge, snorting a few times to get the water out of his nose.

"See, you've learned to swim," Maki declared. "Now we'll just have to work on you holding your breath."

"I'll drown, just you wait," Fujima muttered sullenly, "and then you'll be sorry, because I'll come back to haunt you every night."

-

Ayako had a strictly professional relationship with the members of North Star. Despite all Miyagi's efforts, she refused to let it go past that again.

She went to the trouble of ensuring that at least one other band member was in the room with Miyagi and herself, and carefully occupied him with any number of recordings and single-member interviews (perhaps more than was fair to him, really). He, in turn, pursued her even more ardently.

In one interview, when they were asked if there was anyone special in their lives, Akagi, Mito, Sakuragi and Rukawa all but fell over themselves talking over Miyagi. This resulted in a very interesting exposé declaring that the members of North Star were involved with an as yet unknown all-girl band named Blue Roses, which was later discovered to be fictional. However, this resulted in groups of North Star fans forming their own Blue Roses bands, in hopes of becoming involved with North Star. Thus far all attempts had been ineffective.

Ayako was not omniscient, but she did her best.

When she caught wind of how one reporter was investigating their high school lives, she quietly ensured that no word was ever mentioned of how she had once been Miyagi's girlfriend.

The band was the most important. It had to be.


End file.
